A Beast In The Eyes Of Others
by ThetaSigma1963
Summary: (Set before season 2, My own book for LoK) The spirits are angry Korra isn't connected enough to their side of things. They decide to do something about it and turn Korra into a beast, seen by the eyes of everyone else. A dangerous adventure follows. (Post season 1. I suck at summaries. Reviews are love.)
1. Chapter 1

**Hey hey! It's a multi-chapter Legend Of Korra story! Hence my name Korraava! (I'm addicted to Wolf stories..)**

Korra tossed and turned, whimpering in her sleep. Her nightmare was taking a terrible toll on her mind as she tried to wake up, but an unearthly force was keeping her asleep and dreaming.

"Leave me be! I haven't done any wrong!" She screamed inside the dream, at the foggy dark figure floating before her. The thing laughed, mocking her as a dark energy started to swirl around her body.

"You need to be taught a lesson. You are not connected to the spirits enough, Avatar. And until you change this fact, you will become a beast in the eyes of the ones you love and care for." The voice boomed down at her, and the dark energy swirled faster and faster around her in the dream. But what she didn't know was she was engulfed In this same energy outside of the dream as well.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked in a plea. The dark foggy figure zoomed up close to her.

"Well I've just told you! Will you never listen? This is your punishment until you fix this broken connection." The figure hissed at her, a pair of red glowing eyes appearing and glaring at her, seeming to stare right through her.

"Let me go!" Korra protested, bound by the ropes of the dark energy that now held her effectively defenseless. The figure shook what seemed to be it's head.

"Bot until you've learned to connect better with us, the spirits. Dawn is approaching for you, and you will awaken as a new being. But in the eyes of others, you will be seen as an unwanted beast. You must run. Run!" The darkness screeched at her and she awoke from the nightmare with a yelp.

"No!" Korra barked out as she bolted out of her bed, panting heavily. Then her head tilted to the side in utter confusion as she realized her bed was taller than it used to be. Then she remembered what the darkness had told her.

_You will awaken as a new being. But in the eyes of others, you will be seen as an unwanted beast._

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. The spirits had done something to her, tampered with her physical appearance. She didn't even know the spirits could do that! What was she now?

"Korra?" She heard a voice from behind her, a voice she'd never heard before. She whirled around and found her trusty per Naga sitting behind her, mouth agape and ears perked up in confusion. She couldn't believe it.

"Naga? You can talk?" Korra asked, suspicious. Naga barked.

"It is you! How can you be a wolf though? That doesn't make any sense!" Naga noted, her tone full of confusion. Korra shook her head.

"Wolf? The spirit turned me into a wolf? What?!" Korra howled, jumping and turning herself in circles, trying to get a better look at herself. Korra gasped when she saw she had a tail. She then concluded that she wasn't human anymore. "How can I understand you?"

Naga wagged her long tail. "All animals can communicate. Pabu and I are always chatting while you guys are doing your serious business." She explained. Korra tried to process this.

"Look, Naga, I don't have any time for this. The spirit said I was going to be kept like this until I fix the issue of me being disconnected from the spirits. My friends aren't going to recognize me and if I don't get out of here soon, they'll find me like this." Korra blurted, tail swishing nervously.

"Relax, Korra. I will help you on this just like I always do. But we can't sneak out of the air temple through your window, I won't fit. We have to go the long way. Can you bend at all?" She asked, being unusually calm.

Korra tried to bend with her wolf paws, but nothing came every time she tried an element. "No, I can't. It looks like I can't bend Fire, earth or air. Hopefully water will work, but we need to get to the bay for that." She noted.

Naga sat in thought. "I can get Pabu to help us. The more help we have the better. The humans can overpower you now that you are a wolf." She concluded finally.

"Thanks for the intel." Korra deadpanned. "I'm running out of time and patience, girl. The sooner this problem is resolved, the better. I can't live as a wolf. It's just wrong! And the world could need it's Avatar at any second and I'm not ready!" She complained.

"Alright alright, keep your fur on." Naga said, annoyed. "First we need to draw everyone away from our path. Pabu can do that if he agrees to help." Naga stated, planning a perfect escape route in her polar-bear dog brain of hers.

"Then we have to pass the White Lotus. Getting past my friends and Tenzin should hopefully be easy..." Korra mumbled. "Huh. New teeth. That's weird." (Anyone know that line?) Naga shook her head.

"Not the time to dawdle, Korra. Let's find Pabu." Korra nodded and Naga pushed the door open, sniffing and looking around for any sign of a human around, then began to pad down the hallway as quietly as she could. Korra followed silently.

"Where would Pabu even be? I can't think of any other place besides with Bolin. And that's a problem." Korra whispered to Naga. Naga made a weird sounding sigh.

"I can get him while to stand off to the side hidden. He always comes when I say it's urgent. And this is by far the most urgent matter I've ever encountered in my life. Don't worry, Korra. I can do this." She said to her owner with a toothy smile.

Korra grinned wolfishly back. "Great. Let's do this before Tenzin flings me off the island with his Airbending." She reminded. They quickened their pace a bit. They made it safely out of the girl's dorm and slipped through the tress to the caves where the Bisons were.

"Oogi, do you have any idea where Pabu might be?" Naga asked the sky bison. Oogi tried to do a shrug.

"No, I don't. Who's the wolf?" Naga shook her head, saying she had no time. Korra and Naga slinked off toward the main building on the island, hoping to have better luck.

"We have to get inside without alerting the White Lotus." Korra said in a hushed tone. Naga sighed.

"That might be hard without Pabu right now. I might have to draw attention to us. I can howl and hopefully Pabu will hear me. But it's not a guarantee. Want to try?" She asked. Korra nodded. "Alright, on three. One...two...Three!" Naga began to howl at the top of her lungs, and Korra joined In quickly. The guards came to full alert.

"Stupid animals making a ruckus! Find them and silence them!" One of the guard shouted and they began to look around furiously for the two culprits. Naga signaled to make a run for it, and they fled out of the tress to somewhere still in range of the building but not the guards.

"Hopefully Pabu gets the message..." Naga murmured under her breath. They silently cheered a few minutes later as the red fire-ferret came out of the building, squeaking and running past the searching guards. He met up with Naga and Korra.

"Naga, what's going on? Who's the she-wolf?" He asked, confused. Naga sighed.

"Long story short Pabu, this is Korra. She was turned into a wolf by angry spirits, and don't ask us how because we don't know." She warned. Pabu tilted his head, slowly processing Naga's words.

"What?! But that doesn't...work..." He trailed off, utterly lost. Korra growled.

"No time! We have to leave, and we need your help getting off the island. You are allowed to travel with us to the South Pole, but it's your choice." Korra whispered quickly. Pabu looked to his side.

"We might have a small problem with that plan, though." He said nervously, looking at the red-faced Tenzin that was storming over, blabbering about something. Then he caught sight of Korra.

"Hey! Why is there a wolf with Korra's pet and Bolin's pet? No stray animals are supposed to be on the island!" He called angrily, stomping over to be suddenly stopped by Pema.

Pema was whispering something into Tenzin's ear when he blew his top.

"Korra's gone?! She can't have just left!" He shouted, shock and anger catching up to him. Then Mako, Asami and Bolin came after they heard the shout. Then the group turned to look at the group of animals near the bushes.

"I want that polar-bear dog and that rouge wolf kept here! We could use the tracking systems they have to find her." Tenzin ordered.

"Time to go, now." Korra barked and the three headed in the direction of the bay. Tenzin's mouth fell agape as he saw the animals running away.

"After them!" He shouted and gave chase along with the other members of Team Avatar. Korra looked back at them and hissed.

"Dangit, they're chasing us! What are we going to do now, they won't let up even if we get to the water!" She shouted in dismay. Naga panted, trying to answer as they ran.

"If we have to, then we swim away while in the water. Hopefully the White Lotus won't come around and bend us out of the water. Or bun us. Whatever element they bend. But we can't fight your friends, Korra!" She replied in a rush.

Korra howled with dismay. Right now it seemed her friends were her worst enemies right now, something she'd never want them to be. But this spirit who'd transformed her wasn't kind, and she knew it wouldn't lift it's dark energy from her until the task it told her to do was done.

"We should head in the direction of one of the poles! Both of them hold a spirit portal that maybe we can go through to get a deeper connection to the spirits and release me from being a wolf!" She advised.

Pabu nodded. "Maybe that'd be the best idea, guys. But we have to decide right now, because we're reaching the bay!" He announced, and to their dismay they realized he was right. Korra sighed.

"Let's just really hope I can still waterbend!" She said hopefully as the reached the edge of the island, where they skidded to a stop.

"Okay, please let this work." Korra said, closing her eyes and touching the surface of the water with her wolf paw. She heard a sort of crackling noise, and she opened her eyes to see a layer of ice spreading out from where her paw was.

"Guys, come on! I can make us a path of ice across the water, let's go!" Korra ordered the other two as they carefully jumped down, trying not to break the ice.

"Can you make the path while running?" Pabu asked nervously, while perched on Naga's back.

"I think, why?" Korra asked. Pabu gulped.

"Because they're still following!" He called back, looking at his owner falling onto the icy path they had.

"Pabu! Come on, get back here! Come back, buddy!" Bolin called out to Pabu, arms outstretched. Pabu looked longingly at him.

"Pabu, you don't have to come with us. I'm sure we'll find many other animals that can help us out along the way. Go with your master." Korra said softly. His eyes lit up.

"Thank you. I'll hold them off while you guys run. Now go!" He ordered as he ran across the ice path back to Bolin.

"Naga, break off the ice path behind you so they can't come with us. Big gap." Korra said. Naga got up on her hind legs and roared loudly, slamming down on the somewhat thin ice, and shattering it quickly.

"Right, now we've got to go, now!" Korra barked and began to run at the full speed a wolf had, followed by Naga. Bolin watched the animals go with Pabu on his shoulder.

"Who is that wolf running off with Naga? And how is it doing that, freezing the water with only a touch of it's paws?" He asked incredulously. Mako, Asami and Tenzin slid down to land on the ice still remaining.

"That's not a normal wolf then. What was it doing on the island? Could it be the reason of Korra's disappearance?" Asami asked. Mako stood up growling.

"We should follow them, just in case if wherever they're heading may lead us to Korra." He advised with a hiss. Tenzin nodded.

"Maybe we should. We need Korra back, trouble can arise at any moment. Everyone come to the bison caves and we'll ride on Oogi. Those animals can't have gotten too far. We'll catch up to them fairly quickly." He said and the four ran off to where they needed to go, with a squeak of worry from Pabu.

* * *

"Other animals?" Korra asked finally as they slowed to a fast walk while she kept creating the ice path. Naga seemed to do a shrug.

"It's just a thought. We're not going to be on water the whole time, are we?" Naga asked, a small whine in her tone. Korra shook her head.

"No, not the whole time. I suggest we head the the Northern water tribe since it's closer and there's more land instead of water on the path we could take." Korra said, trying to plan out a route without the use of a map.

"Like that land ahead of us?" Naga asked, seeing a faint outline of land in the distance. Korra looked up and saw the same view and nodded.

"Yeah, that's where we're headed. Making this path is actually rather tiring." Korra said.]

The two fell into silence as they inched closer and closer to the land they were heading to, and the adventure of a Wolfish Avatar began.

**(Is this way too weird? Should I scrap this or continue? R&R please and tell me.)**


	2. Chapter 2

**xD Yes Korra is a wolf. I told you I was** **obsessed.**

_Last time..._

_Korra looked up and saw the same view and nodded. "Yeah, that's where we're headed. Making this path is actually rather tiring." Korra said. The two fell into silence as they inched closer and closer to the land they were heading to, and the adventure of a Wolfish Avatar began._

* * *

Naga wagged her tail happily as they finally reached the land. "Land!" She barked happily, rolling on her back on the dirt. Korra flopped down, panting heavily.

"Somehow that was very stressful..." She panted, tongue hanging out of her mouth. Naga nudged Korra with her big nose.

"Come on, Korra! We should explore, find a shelter for the night. Bad things hunt at night!" Naga insisted. Korra whined.

"Can't I rest first? We have hours and you only had to walk behind me while I had to make the path..." She complained, refusing to get up. Naga growled, annoyed.

"Korra, I thought you wanted to fix this problem as soon as possible. Lying here like a lazy dog won't help." Naga said, nudging Korra again. She sighed, and hauled herself up reluctantly.

"Fine, I'm going... Let's keep heading North for now. If we have to we'll go off course just to find food and shelter." She instructed, staring at the ground and her wolf paws. Never in Avatar history had he or she been transformed into an animal. It just wasn't supposed to happen. But maybe it didn't happen to them was because they weren't spiritual failures like she was.

"Korra?" Naga asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked back up.

"Yeah, sorry. Just thinking. Let's go then." Korra began to walk off north, followed by her pet. It was almost too weird to believe, but weird things always happened to the Avatar. A person couldn't just become a wolf or any other animal. Korra started to wonder if this was still her dream and she'd be waking up back at the Air Temple any moment now.

"I hope..." She mumbled under her breath so Naga wouldn't hear. She jumped over large rocks and loose tree roots, coming up to where the land started to slant upwards. "Oh brother..." Korra complained.

"It's just a mountain. I bet we can scale it faster than an average human, since we have four legs and they have two. Plus they'd have all their equipment to carry as well." Naga concluded. Korra nodded, head tilted upwards to look at the top of the mountain. She gulped.

"It looks real high... I'm not sure that I'm comfortable going that high." She said with a shiver. Naga barked.

"But you're perfectly fine when you're up high!" She protested. Korra nodded dramatically.

"Yeah, when I'm human, and can airbend before I land face first on the ground! I'm a wolf now, and I can't airbend in this form!" She bit back. Naga sighed.

"Korra, now's not the time to fight with each other. Let's just go, please?" She asked. Korra whined, but gave in.

"Oh alright, we'll go up the mountain. But I'd rather go around it, just to tell you." Korra reminded as they began their climb upwards. Korra found it easier to grip the steep rocks with wolf paws instead of human hands, mostly because she had claws instead of fingers.

"See? It's not that bad, Korra." Naga said cheerfully, climbing right behind her. Korra sighed and nodded.

"Whatever, I'm still not very comfortable." She insisted, steadily hauling herself upwards rock by rock. Upon going higher, she looked back and saw that they were at a ridiculous height. She started to freeze up in terror.

"I don't like this. Nope. Let's find a nice, stable area like a cave before one of us slips up and falls to our death." Korra said quickly. Naga rolled her eyes.

"Korra if it's that much of a problem, you can ride on my back. I still have your saddle on, since you never took it off." She said. Korra gave her a wolfish grin.

"Thank you! There'll probably be claw marks the next time I ride you around though..." She mumbled as she carefully maneuvered and ended up on Naga's back, where he firmly sunk her claws into the saddle for safe measure. Naga continued the climb upwards.

"Korra, I think I can see a cave. It's up there." She moved her head, trying to point without using her paws, which were hooked into the rock with claws. Korra's eyes lit up.

"Great! Lets go there for the night. It's sunset and the light will be gone fairly soon." Korra advised. Naga nodded and followed Korra's order. Up and up she went, until they finally reached level with the cave opening. The moment Naga stopped moving, Korra kept from her spot atop her and bolted inside the cave with a happy bark echoing through the walls. Naga rolled her eyes at her owner.

"Having fun?" Naga asked sarcastically, following Korra inside after a pause. Korra bounded up and down like and over-excited puppy.

"Yes! Much! I'm just so glad we didn't fall down to our deaths!" She replied, an unusual cheer in her voice. Naga perked up, ears on the air. She suddenly stiffened.

"Korra, be quiet!" She ordered, suddenly going into attack mode, growling. Korra immediately froze in her spot, watching Naga with a confused expression. Then there were footsteps heard. More like paw steps.

"It's another animal?" Korra whispered. Naga didn't know.

"Keep quiet." She whispered back with a hiss. Korra pouted, her tail which had been wagging furiously was now limp. The paw steps drew closer and grew louder.

"Who's there?" Naga barked out to the opening of the cave threateningly. The paw steps halted suddenly. Then they returned, more slowly like the animal was creeping up On them.

"We know you're there! You can't win against a Polar-Bear dog and a wolf!" Korra continued. The paws stopped again.

"Boy, I was only hoping it was small animals. Looks like this cave is taken..." In the entrance way of the cave appeared a Tigerdillo. Korra got out of her attack stance.

"We're not staying here forever. Only for the night, because we're heading up north." She insisted. the Tigerdillo nodded.

"Figures. You're both animals that live in the icy places." He remarked. "My name's Kexo." He greeted them.

"I'm Naga and this is Korra." Naga said. Kexo's jaw dropped.

"Korra? Isn't the current Avatar named Korra?" He asked.

Naga shifted. "Well, yes. Actually, this is the Avatar and I'm her animal companion, but it's a long story and we probably won't have time to explain it." Naga said quickly.

"What's the rush? It's almost sunset and I heard that you're going to be stayin here for the night." Kexo flopped down on his stomach. "All the time in the world." He persisted.

Korra rolled her eyes. "Are Tigerdillos always this persistent?" She asked. Kexo shrugged.

"I dunno. I'm not all Tigerdillos." He replied jokingly. Korra only rolled her eyes again.

"Well, I guess we can tell you about the whole incident. We have time, and really it's not that bad being a wolf." She said. Naga gave her a stern look.

"Now now, Korra, don't go thinking that you can just live the rest of your life as a wolf." She warned. Korra sighed.

"I know. But it's just so much more relaxing than being human and the Avatar. I don't really have any responsibilities as a wolf." She argued. Naga stayed quiet.

"Anyway, I guess I should relay the story now..." And Korra told Kexo about everything she could. Though going over earlier events, she had time to think about as well. It puzzled her on how a spirit could even change her shape like that.

"How odd. I wonder why the spirit chose to turn you into a wolf? Why not just warn you or something?" Kexo asked, drawing small patterns in the soft stone with his claws.

"I don't know. But I plan to find out when we get to the Northern Portal where I should open it and find that spirit. We'll have a nice friendly chat." She said sarcastically. Naga rolled her eyes.

"It's reaching nightfall you two. We should get some rest for the journey tomorrow. Well, us two. I'm sure Kexo has a nice family to get back to." She insisted. At the mention of that, Kexo averted his eyes from the both of them.

"Yes, we should get some rest." He stated softly and curled up in the corner. Naga tilted her head in confusion, but thought nothing more of it. Naga sat down and started to drift off, while Korra pushed herself to stay up a bit longer. She sat at the mouth of the cave and stared out into the open night.

"What about my friends?" She asked herself softly. Her friends would be worried, and Mako- Oh, Mako... She terribly wanted to run into his arms right now. She hasn't realized it, but all this time she'd been afraid of the recent events. It was normal, though, to be so shaken up over something like this.

"I must rest..." She mumbled before padding back to the middle of the cave and curling up next to Naga for warmth. The three animals said good night to each other and slowly drifted off to sleep. However, Korra stayed up a little longer than Kexo and Naga, wondering. She stared out the cave's mouth to the cresent moon.

"I didn't want any of this..." She mumbled to herself sadly. Reluctant, she placed her head down on the cave floor and listened the the silence of the night as her eyes gradually closed. But, as soon as she did, she found that they reopened a second later, and her surroundings were all pitch black.

"Great..." She sighed. Looking down, she noticed that she was lying down on nothing, and that she was somehow in her human body. She looked forwards, seeing the dark wispy spirit staring right at her, red eyes glinting in no light, it was laughing at here. She became angry immediately.

"You have no right to laugh at me!" She hissed angrily, standing up from the nothing she had been Lyon on earlier. The spirit simply laughed physically this time.

"Yet you are so wrong. You aren't the Avatar, not even close unless you can connect to the spirits. Yet I do not count." It said. Korra smirked.

"Yeah? Why not? Are you 'different' or 'infected' with something because I'm speaking to you? I hope you are." She snapped back. "No spirit simply can turn me into a wolf and tell me to connect with the spirits. As the Avatar, I planned to do that in my lifetime." She argued.

"Ah, but when? When will you do this? I did my homework before I put this plan into motion. I asked myself the same question. I decided you needed to learn how soon, or basically now. There is something terrible coming your way, and I'm simply trainin you for the fight ahead." It argued back.

"Hold on, fight? What fight? Is there going to be a war? Another one? I just got out of one, with the Equalists and Amon, and you're telling me there will be another one this soon?" She snapped angrily, a hint a panic in the back of her voice.

"All in good time, Avatar. I cannot tell you any more about that." It clamed up. Korra sighed in frustration.

"Alright, then answer me this. Why a wolf? Why change me?" She asked. The spirit seemed to hesitate.

"Because you need a way to focus on your task- alone, I may add- and have no human distractions. Wolves are misunderstood as unwanted beasts in your world, so I figured it would prove the best solution." It explained.

"Basically you're telling me that I can't have my boyfriend or other friends on this journey with me to support me because you call the distractions? How dare you!" Korra shot back, fully angry again. It sighed.

"Yes. Is that too harsh for you, or will you toughen throught it and rely on some of your OTHER friends?" it honed, speaking about Naga and Kexo.

"Kexo has his own family to get back to. I can't drag him around with us against his will." She sighed. The spirit shook his head.

"You didn't pick up on his emotional hint, did you? Naga had said the same thing, and yet Kexo didn't even agree with her. Just simply looked to the side and quickly changed the subject. Now, what does that say to you?" It pondered.

"But, I swear all Tigerdillos have a family!" Korra protested. The spirit shook his head.

"Not Kexo. His family was consumed by a renegade dark spirit. He only survived because, being the runt, wasn't detected by said spirit and left without consuming him. He has no where to return to, I'm afraid." It replied. Korra frowned.

"Who was this spirit?" She asked, fist clenching. The spirit looked away.

"I am truly remorseful for what I did in that state of rage and confusion. I didn't know what was right or wrong. My punishment we this- being this- and forced to bring misfortune on anyone who comes to cross paths with me." Korra roared in anger.

"Why would you do that?! Kexo's family hadn't done anything wrong, all Tugerdillos carry out the same life functions. Nothing would be out of the ordinary!" She roared. The spirit seemed to till its eyes.

"I cannot go on, I am running out of time. You must get enough rest for your trek tomorrow. Just know this: I regret deply for what I've done in my time." The spur it's voice became muffled and echoed, the blackness began to spun around her until she blinked, finding herself standing straight up, and a wolf once more.

"Why..." She mumbled, finding herself panting pretty heavily. She looked behind her to Kexo, who was fast asleep with a small frown on his face. Korra smiled sadly, and curled herself up right next to Naga. Slowly but surely, she felt her eyes close and she fell asleep once again.

This time, she had no dreams.

**So! Chapter 2 is finally finished. XD R&R? I worked hard.**


End file.
